Three hundred jobs face axe at Melbourne university

Staff at a Melbourne university have been left “shell-shocked” by the administration’s unilateral move to invite 300 resignations.

Victoria University vice-chancellor Adam Shoemaker said the voluntary separation programme was necessary to save A$40 million (£21 million). “The cost savings target is a very real one,” he told staff. “We are taking essential actions today which will shape our future.”

The move follows a horror 2022 for the institution, which recorded a A$73 million deficit – equivalent to about one-sixth of its revenue – after managing slender surpluses in the first two years of Covid.

VU’s annual earnings from international students are about A$30 million lower than before the pandemic, and recent downturns in domestic enrolments and the financial markets have compounded the damage. Income from teaching subsidies and student loans declined by about A$25 million last year, while a reversal in investment earnings cost another A$29 million.

The National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) said the university had contravened its enterprise agreement and workplace safety legislation in launching a redundancy scheme without consultation.

Victorian division secretary Sarah Roberts said the university aimed to shed around one-sixth of its workforce over the next three months. “Deciding to cut 300 jobs without talking to staff or the NTEU is completely unacceptable, and inimical to the welfare of staff who have already endured multiple redundancy rounds in recent years,” she said.

“VU staff are already facing extreme and unsafe workloads. Slashing a sixth of the workforce will have devastating consequences.”

Matthew Klugman, vice-president of the NTEU’s VU branch, said the process was “rushed” and “haphazard”. He said staff were “shell-shocked”.

“It is time for the university to create an ethical, sustainable workload for all its staff. We will stand side by side with our colleagues throughout the entire process,” he said.

Professor Shoemaker has also announced a “roadmap for the future” to make the university’s operations sustainable. He said the “Towards One VU” programme would be as “positively transformational” as VU’s adoption of the block teaching model in 2018.

“This will focus on the best of what we do in research, in teaching and in service excellence,” he said.

The university has vowed to be “direct and transparent” with staff while declining to disclose details publicly.

In a “frequently asked questions” document prepared for staff, VU says the new roadmap is more than a budget recovery exercise, with considerable effort underway to boost student admissions and retention.

“By enhancing our offer and cementing our reputation, we will attract more students,” the document says. “However, the reality is we do need to focus on cost savings this year. This programme of work was always going to be done and was always necessary. Our financial situation has accelerated this need.”

The document says VU’s financial challenges have been caused by “macro-trends” including high employment, increased domestic competition, Covid border closures and the changing needs of students and employers. Neighbours Deakin and La Trobe universities each lost about 600 jobs in the first two years of the pandemic, it notes.

“We understand [300] is a large number and achieving this saving will be challenging, but we must act now as delay will only lead to harder decisions in the future,” the document says.

Dr Klugman said management had refused to provide the evidence underpinning its key decisions. He said student administration functions were being outsourced to staff on lower pay and conditions than enterprise agreement requirements.

john.ross@timeshighereducation.com